..

Well, it's a balmy 14C here in Nazare (we're back up to 19C next week) and calm blue skies... can't complain for a January day really, and it sure beats being freezing on the UK south coast like last year.

We're still waiting on a few bits & pieces for our new mast (more on that lower down), so the last week and a half has been pretty easy going around here. There was a vegan brunch at Armazam 52 that kept us going for most of the last wet & windy day we had here...

While Lauren was busy writing, I also got stuck into helping out on another fishing boat re-launch.

The weather then turned good enough to start eating outside again (plus it gave us a chance to test the new aft deck seating).

And then onto boat jobs. It turns out the new taller rig needed the bowsprit connection plate to have a different angle (and be reinforced), so Alec from Nazare Nautica came down for a bit of welding work.

It's one of those jobs I could have done, but with the boat moving around with harbour surge and the fact it was a stainless weld, I thought it best left to the professionals....

After that, we swapped the bobstay wire for 12mm stainless chain. The chain is stronger by a long way, and also more chafe resistant should the anchor chain rub on it.

As ever with boat projects, it turns out one thing leads to another.... We ordered stronger turnbuckles for our new mast (they tension the wires holding the mast up) but it turns out the stronger versions are shorter.... ugh. So now we're waiting on toggles to extend the turnbuckles. In true leisure marine fashion, we've also found the aluminium 90 / 45 degree pipe connectors for our engines have started corroding after two years (quality stuff, that), so we've got some stainless replacements on order. Frustrating, but it'll all be here this week. What else... on yes, the Rutland 914 wind gen has broken for a second time in 12 months (only 14 months old!!!) and our Garmin anenometer (wind speed reader) has decided to seize up. Ah well... as it turns out, the wind here is either full force or non-existent so we couldn't test sail even if we wanted to. There's plenty to do to keep us amused (I think we're off on a cycle through town today) and we'll keep planning towards the next hop down to Lisbon, then onto the Canaries....